Maori & Pasifika - programme II

Maori Pasifika Shorts

Short films directed, written or featuring Maori and Pasifika people.

With guest:
Deborah Walker, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Possum – de/by Dave Whitehead (Māori)

NEW-ZEALAND – 2017 – 15M – english, maori o.v., french subt.

Set in New Zealand in the 1970s, Possum is a tale of two young brothers who accompany their lumberjack father to a forest campsite. At odds with each other, the two hatch a plan to head into the woods and hunt for a notorious possum named Scar. Possum is a short lm based on a true story between director Dave Whitehead and his older brother Nathan, based on when they grew up in rural Wairoa. Filmed in Otaki.

How The Light Gets In – de/by Any Beyersdorf

AUSTRALIA – 2017 – 15M – english, maori o.v., french subt.

A single mother living on the fringes of society with her two girls wakes in the night with a unique problem —a light, shining from within her— taking over her life as it takes over her body. With Whirimako Black and music by Leonard Cohen (sung by SAY LOU LOU) and composed by John Kilbey.

Salamasina’s Daughters – de/by Aruna Po-Ching

NEW-ZEALAND – 2017 – 14M – english, maori o.v., french subt.

Salamasina’s Daughters is set in South Auckland, New Zealand, following two Samoan female chiefs, specifically orators, tulafale, a role traditionally for men only. Aruna Po-Ching follows a 73-year old grandmother and a cultural language teacher and we discover their challenges when speaking as tulafale and what they are doing with their chief titles to serve their family and community.

Meke – de/by Tim Worrall (Maori)

NEW-ZEALAND – 2017 – 15M – english, maori o.v., french subt.

The arrival of a trainer’s daughter into the midst of backstage preparations before an important boxing match threatens to destroy the relationship between fighter and coach. Meke – Best Actor Māori 2018 Wairoa Maori Film Festival.

Ka Piko – de/by Bryson Chun (Hawaii)

USA / HAWAII – 2017 – 9M – english, maori o.v., french subt.

When his girlfriend dies during childbirth, Makana, a young Hawaiian man, must complete an indigenous birthing ritual with his girlfriend’s overbearing father.

Te Makutu, The Curse – de/by Jonathan Zsofi

NEW-ZEALAND – 2017 – 20M – english, maori o.v., french subt.

Two star-crossed lovers in colonial New Zealand incur the wrath of a deadly spirit that follows them into the present where they must decide between lives apart or love and death.